Struggling for over 10 years now

Ive been dieting for awhile now, and just dont seem to get anywhere. The most success I had was going from 21 stone, to 17 and a half stone, on the Slim Fast plan, this took me 3 months, and in a moment of weakness (family BBQ) I threw most of that weight back on in 4 weeks. Annoying how one small event can throw you for weeks.

I'm giving it another shot tomorrow (monday) and am determined this time, but just need some advice.

I did a trial though last week, and I am really struggling to get to tea time, come tea time I am starving lol, so eat my tea, within a couple of hours I am hungry again, and night time is the worst. Any suggestions on where my diet is going wrong, and is there anything else I could have for dinner to help fill me up?

I also exercise monday - friday, I do 25 minutes a day on the exercise bike at home, this doesnt seem to make a differance, although it probably is? Another issue I have is not drinking enough, and when I do its normally brews (Tea) we always use skimmed milk and sweetener, but how can I motivate myself to drink more water?

I'm male by the way if that helps lol. I am at home 7 days a week, so easy to fall into fridge picking habits.

I now am obsessing about my weight, its all I think about, and its ruining my life, I seem to gain more weight when I am on a diet??? than lose it??

I binge aswell, if I have a bad day or whatever, I say sod the diet and have a day off, then we eat more than ever, my partner is also trying to lose weight, and if she fails I tend to aswell, are we best going alone? we seem to fall on each others failures.

We have tried weight watchers etc but they just dont work for us for some reason, we buy the food but its too expensive and I want a simple diet I can follow, not all that point counting rubbish, by the time my teas ready I have a headache working out how much it costs on the WW plan lol.

With your diet , it seems like at them times you need to keep busy and it does pass that feeling , but it will come back so just keep busy , come on here , all in the same boat , we are heading for slimvalley lol
with bike riding they say 3 times a week , and you will notice takes 6 weeks , but that means eating diet food , no junk

VLCDs don’t need to be a punishment, we just need to change our way of thinking , as by staying the way we are is punishment .

I want to lose weight more on my upper body than lower, but not sure how to achieve this, plus to worsen it, we only have an excercise bike which works lower body. Any tips for upper body fat burning? being a man having flabby chest is embarrassing!

I would say you're not eating nearly enough. Eating cereal for lunch isn't going to keep you going all afternoon so try replacing it with something more filling, like jacket potato and beans? this should keep the hunger away for longer. Also you may need to add snacks mid morning and mid afternoon, like a banana or cereal bar. Good luck to you and your OH (I drink decaf tea by the gallon and this counts towards the fluid intake)

Any diet will work as long as you stick with it till the end , but thats the hard bit , so really you have to really want this !!!
Can you try sit ups or do you have the funds to buy one ? think they are about £20 , it helps you do sit ups I have one can't think of the name of it . but I find it really helps . With the diet your on I don't know much about it so I can't really say

VLCDs don’t need to be a punishment, we just need to change our way of thinking , as by staying the way we are is punishment .

Have you had a look at diet plans on this site ? there is a forum and there is different diets , when I saw my doctor few years ago , he told me if I drop my carbs and eat meats the weight would fall off me , its carb foods that really don't help .

VLCDs don’t need to be a punishment, we just need to change our way of thinking , as by staying the way we are is punishment .

Are once a week treats worth it? as in like something to look forward too? say maybe a takeaway on saturday nights or a chippy tea? or should these be stayed away from? what would you guys normally do as a reward or treat?

This is a hard question to give an easy answer to. I use Slimming World and there's lots of food you can eat which you don't have to measure. The points counting is used for the rest and it's easy to monitor it by using the books you get when you join (and their website), just write it down as you go.

If you really want to lose weight you have to be committed. I had the motivation of high blood pressure and cholesterol to spur me on. Every time you're thinking of eating something you shouldn't, ask yourself why? Will you really feel better for sneaking a cake or biscuit? That 10 second rush of sugar on your tongue will be replaced by hours of guilt over doing it and then you're even more likely to eat more of the same as a comfort (believe me, I've done it too many times).

You have to understand what food you're eating and what it really does to you. Many of us here are practically nutritionists, when you're watching your weight you come to know what you should and shouldn't have in great detail! To change your weight long term, you have to accept the fact you can't eat whatever you want, whenever you want. It's all about balance.

Orlistat only works if you're eating relatively healthy food to begin with, it won't strip all the fat from your food. I took it years ago and I thought I'd try and see what I could get away with. Believe me, it's a distinctly unpleasant experience and I wouldn't use them again.

But it can be done, there's numerous success stories here and lots of people will give you recommendations on ways to do it. Whatever you choose, I wish you both the best of luck!

This includes frozen, canned, dried and pure juices as well as fresh. Also included in this group are beans, including baked beans, pulses and lentils. The key for good health is to choose a wide variety - aiming for five different portions per day. A portion is approximately 80g, e.g. one medium apple or two medium plums. Bread, Other Cereals & Potatoes

A healthy eating plan should include 5 portions daily

This group includes breakfast cereals, pasta, rice, noodles, oats and other cereals as well as bread and potatoes. You should aim to include at least one food from this group at each meal. Milk & Dairy Foods

2-3 servings daily is the recommended healthy eating level

Milk, cheese, yoghurt and fromage frais are included in this group, but not butter, eggs and cream. Serving sizes in this group vary, depending on how concentrated the food is, e.g. 1 serving of milk is 200ml, a serving of yoghurt is 150g and a serving of cheese is 30g. Meat Fish & Alternatives

This group includes eggs, poultry, and meat and fish products such as beefburgers and fishcakes. Some of these products can be high in fat - so it’s best to choose lower fat versions of products, and trim visible fat from meat and poultry. Alternatives are non-meat sources of protein such as nuts, tofu, mycoprotein, textured vegetable protein (TVP) and kidney beans. Foods Containing Fat & Foods Containing Sugar

Eat in small quantities, 0-3 servings daily

These are foods high in fat and/or sugar. Butter, margarine, oil, mayonnaise, cream, crisps and fried foods are high in fat. Soft drinks, sweets and jam are high in sugar. Cakes, chocolate, biscuits, pastries and ice-cream are high in both. It is essential to include a small amount of fat in your diet, but most people need to eat less. The emphasis should be on unsaturated fat e.g. olive, sunflower and corn oil, rather than saturated fat which tends to come from animal products, cakes, biscuits and pastries.

You can keep track of how your healthy eating plan is going, with the Weight Loss Resources online food diary. Try it free for 24 hours.

VLCDs don’t need to be a punishment, we just need to change our way of thinking , as by staying the way we are is punishment .

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